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Its still early days for Pakistans eCommerce market, as general purpose estores like Daraz grow in line with the nations wired citizens. But thats not deterring highly specialized sites from entering the countrys online shopping market. Online grocery shopping is one area with a lot of potential because we all need groceries, theyre not a luxury, and theyre such a tedious commodity to go out and buy.
A number of online grocery stores have popped up in Pakistan in the past 3 years. They sell staples like rice, lentils, daals, oils, fruit, vegetables and also household and personal items like washing powder, shampoos, and toothpaste. Its not just the boring stuff Pakistans egrocery sites also stock items such as coffee, tea, fruit juices, cookies, and ice creams.
Online Grocery here in Pakistan is still a newborn industry which is growing, there are some factors which has to be kept in mind if someone is considering to enter this market and grab the opportunity this E-commerce subdivision has to offer.
An online grocery startup should make sure theyre building strong connections with retailers, wholesalers, and customers, as these entities will have some influence on revenue. Online grocers should also strongly consider store sales, different forms of marketing, merchandising, and optimized delivery costs (a critical aspect), among others.
Its possible for the online grocery business to become mainstream in Pakistan if few major obstacles could be overcomed by the entrepreneurs:
Price: The profit window is small in online grocery, as no online shopper would like to pay a price higher than their over the street purchases. However, for online grocers, there is always a delivery cost attached, leading to a thin profit margin. Meanwhile, consumers often perceive online grocery prices to be higher than offline.
Quality: A lot of consumers are still reluctant to let somebody do their groceries for them, as they can never be sure of the quality of food, especially perishables like meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits. Consumers will always assume that the quality of food theyll get from online groceries is just fine, not great.
These problems can only be overcome with trust and could be developed upon repeat orders. Another factor to consider is leveraging technology, like using stock rotation to reduce food spoilage.
With no oligarchy of supermarket chains in Pakistan unlike in the US and many other nations its a chance for startups in Pakistan to build an online shopping empire around the foodstuffs that we need to stock up on every week.
